


Waking Up from the Dead

by MaeveBran



Category: Captain America (2011)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-12-31
Updated: 2012-01-15
Packaged: 2017-10-28 13:50:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaeveBran/pseuds/MaeveBran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve Rogers begins to adjust to life in the twenty-first century. Starting right after the scene in Times Square in the movie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Long -Awaited Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I've never read the comics so all I know about the Avengers is what is in the movies and what I can find on Wikipedia. The histories I give for the Howling Comandoes, Peggy, Howard, and such like for that near seventy years is mostly made up from what I'd like to have had happen.

“You’ve been asleep, Cap’,” Colonel Fury’s voice rattled around Steven Roger’s head. It was still sinking in – seventy years had passed since he crashed that wing into the ice of the Atlantic. He had no idea how he’d survived, but he guessed it was another benefit of Dr. Erskine’s formula.

The walk back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters was short. Steve was dying to ask questions about what had happened in those lost years but he figured there would be time enough for that soon enough. Agents came up to the colonel with problems to be solved right away and he disappeared deeper into the HQ, but not before turning Steve over to the female agent who had greeted him in that fake recovery room.

She walked Steve down corridors and upstairs and down more stairs until they got to the old headquarters of the Strategic Scientific Reserve. It was a place that held a lot of memories for Steve. The place was emptier than he remembered but the furniture was still there. Steve stepped forward and ran his hand over the railing around the pit where Howard had examined the submarine vehicle of the first Hydra operative Steve had fought.

“My Aunt helped mothball this place,” the female agent said from the doorway. She was still in her vintage uniform.

“Your Aunt?” Steve asked, turning to look at her.

“My aunt, Margaret “Peggy” Carter. She was an agent with the Strategic Scientific Reserve,” the agent explained. “I’m Sharon Carter.”

“I knew Peggy,” Steve said, suddenly choked up. He wanted to ask if Peggy hated him for missing that date. For him, it was earlier today that he’d made that date as he crashed but he knew it had been far longer than that for her. He wanted to ask if she had ever married but was afraid the answer had been yes and that it had been to Howard. At least that was who he hoped it would be, if Peggy had married.

“I know,” the young Agent Carter said. “She still talks about you, sometimes.”

“She does?” Steve asked. The he realized that the word still had been mentioned and the verb had been in the present tense. “She’s alive?”

“Yep. She had her ninetieth birthday last month,” Sharon answered.

“I’d like to see her,” Steve managed to say around the huge lump in his throat.

“I’ll see if Colonel Fury can make that happen,” Sharon said. She stepped forward and led Steve through the old headquarters to the sleeping barracks. She stopped in front of what had been Colonel Phillips’ quarters when he needed to stay at headquarters and couldn’t get home. “We have other quarters if these won’t do, but we thought you might like the familiar.”

Steve looked around. Some of the photos had been either left on the wall or put back up. There was a picture of Steve before the serum and then some press photos from his USO days. There was even one of Colonel Phillips surrounded by Captain America, Agent Carter, Howard Stark and the Howling Commandos. Steve traced his finger across that photo remembering everyone. He paused when he came to Bucky’s face. That picture had been taken just before that mission where Bucky had been lost. Steve was sure that this was the right quarters for him. He wasn’t sure if he could feel at home in modern surroundings if the rest was like what he had glimpsed on the way here. It might be sad to be reminded of what he’d lost, but that would happen no matter where he slept.

“This will be fine,” Steve said as he looked around again. This was the commander’s quarters so it had more room and furniture. Besides the bed, which must have been made up while he had been out on the streets with Colonel Fury, there was a chair and footstool, a desk and chair, an armoire, and a dresser with a mirror hanging above it.

“The mattress is a modern pillow top but everything else is left the way it was,” Sharon explained. “If you want we can get you set up with a computer and WiFi so you can surf the internet and find out what you missed.” Sharon looked at him and noted his confused expression. “I’ll explain later. Do you want some supper or are you tired?”

“I think I’ve had enough sleep if I’ve been asleep for seventy years,” Steve laughed morosely. “But I could do with some food.”

Sharon smiled and slipped out of the room. Steve went and looked at the photos on the wall. That was something else he was going to have to ask about – his shield. He didn’t need it now but it would be nice to have it nearby in case he did eventually require it.

Steve was sitting at the desk and reading the files left there, when the door opened. He didn’t even look up from the paper he was reading. It was a page from his own SSR file. He figured that the person would speak when they wanted.

“Where would you like this?” a strangely familiar voice said. The voice was older and without as thick an accent he remembered.

“Just put it there,” Steve gestured to the empty space on the desk. A tray of food slid in front of him. He looked up and saw an old woman in a Channel suit.

“You don’t recognize me do you?” the old woman asked.

Steve looked harder and saw the woman he had asked to dance in the woman before him. “Peggy?” he asked, astonished that she had gotten there so quickly. “How’d you get here so soon?”

“I live here in Manhattan,” Peggy explained. “When I retired from S.H.I.E.L.D. I left instructions to be notified if anything relating to you came up.” Peggy searched his face. “I just never imagined that it would be you, living and breathing.”

Steve came around the desk and pulled up the wing back chair to face him across it. “Here, have a seat. It seems we have much to catch up on,” he insisted.

“Thanks, I’m not as young as I used to be,” Peggy said as she settled in. “You should eat while I talk,” She commanded gesturing to the tray she had brought in.

Steve resumed his seat behind the desk and started cutting up the steak on the tray. “So what did I miss?”

“Oh a lot. We won the war, both in Europe and Japan,” Peggy said as a beginning, not sure she wanted to tell the personal details she was sure he wanted. “The rest of the Howling Comandos survived.”

Steve nodded. He was relieved. That had been foremost on his mind.

“DumDum died twenty years later in Vietnam. Gabe retired after that. Morita staid in until he died drilling new recruits in the mid-eighties. Falsworth is still alive, living on his manor in England. Dernier is retired and living in Southern France,” Peggy said to bring him up to date.

“And Howard?” Steve asked as he started in on the mashed potatoes.

“Dead. He and his second wife died in a car accident over twenty years ago, leaving their seventeen year old son behind,” Peggy rushed to explain. “Tony, the son, has taken over and followed in his father’s footsteps. Stark Industries leads the way in innovations and until recently, had been a major weapons development company.”

“Second wife?” Steve asked. “What happened to the first?”

Peggy hung her head briefly. “It didn’t work out. Howard started drinking and got mean when he was drunk. She put up with it for over ten years but then she just couldn’t take it anymore.”

Steve looked at her and saw what she was trying to hide. “It was you, wasn’t it?”

“Yes. I was briefly Mrs. Howard Stark. When we divorced, I got enough to keep me in style for quite some time,” Peggy said with a sad smile. “We stayed friends until he died though.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said, not sure how to feel.

“I’m not. Some things aren’t meant to be,” Peggy said. “Anyway, I threw myself back into the SSR and then into S.H.I.E.L.D. I retired in the mid nineteen eighties to raise my niece.”

“I met her,” Steve said lamely.

“I know. She’s the one who called me,” Peggy said. “I think that will do for catching up on personal histories, how about we catch you up on some technology to bring you to the into the twenty-first century?” Peggy pulled out a cell phone from her skirt pocket and called a number.

Ten minutes later, the young Agent Carter brought in a computer, desk phone, and other assorted gadgets. She laid these out on the desk and connected those that needed connecting.

“You sure you can handle this, Aunt Peg?” Sharon asked.  
“I’m sure. If it gets too technical, though, I’ll call you,” P  
eggy reassured her niece.  
“If you say so,” Sharon said as she took the tray off the desk and left.

An hour later, Steve had a basic understanding of what a computer was, how to turn it on and get connected to the internet. The idea of the internet scared him and excited him at the same time. All the information he could ever want right there at his fingertips if he could just access it. The cell phone was a modern marvel but simple enough to use.

“I think that’s enough for one day,” Peggy said as she stood up. “It has been quite a day.”

“It has,” Steve agreed.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Peggy said.

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Steve said with a smile. She might be seventy years older but she was still the Peggy he had asked to dance so long ago. “Maybe we can have that dance after all.”

“I’d like that,” Peggy said as she got to the door. “I don’t get much chance anymore.” She slipped out the door.

Steve got up and paced the room, thinking about all she said. So Peggy had married Howard, and it hadn’t worked out. He wondered why. She had said he drank, but Steve was sure there was more to the story. He was sad that his friend and his girl hadn’t been able to be happy, in his absence.


	2. A Postponed Dance

Late the next afternoon, Steve donned the Army Captain’s dress uniform that had been delivered to him earlier that morning. Someone, the new Agent Carter , Steve suspected, had made sure that the ribbons and medals were what Steve had earned that lifetime ago. The uniform didn’t feel any different than the dress one he had worn on the very few occasions that dress uniforms had been required when he had been no more than a chorus girl. One of those occasions had been to the White House but Steve didn’t like to dwell on that particularly insipid dinner party.

Steve left the familiar of the World War II era headquarters and joined the rest of the world in the twenty-first century headquarters. There he found Peggy dressed for an evening out in a conservative but classy floor length red satin evening gown. Yes, she looked decades older than when he had last seen her but she was still his Peggy. The years had been truly kind and she didn’t look a day over sixty when he knew her to be ninety. Steve couldn’t help himself and he wolf whistled at her.

“Thank you,” Peggy said acknowledging the whistle as a compliment rather than an insult. “You’re looking rather dashing yourself.”

“Uh, thanks,” Steve blushed. “Where are we going?”

“The Waldorf-Astoria has a dining room with a dance floor that does a classic program at the early bird seating,” Peggy said as she lead the way to the waiting Rolls-Royce. They got into the car and Peggy’s driver glided through the difficult traffic with ease. They were soon walking through the elegant hotel.

The dining room was full of older couples and groups of old ladies dining together. Steve looked to be the youngest person in the room besides the wait staff. Of course he was every bit as old as anyone else here, just no one but Peggy and he knew it. There was a stir amongst the other patrons of the restaurant at him and Peggy.

They ordered dinner and the band struck up a slow song. Steve stood and walked around the table to Peggy.  
“I believe I owe you a slow dance,” Steve said as he extended his hand to her. She took it and Steve tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow and led her to the dance floor.

The dance floor wasn’t completely empty and Steve found them a place where if he tripped they wouldn’t take out anyone else. He swept Peggy into place and proceeded to lead her at the Waltz.

“I thought you said you didn’t know how to dance,” Peggy stated, amazed at his dancing.

“I didn’t,” Steve said concentrating on his footwork.

“You’re doing an incredible job then,” Peggy said.

“I looked it up on the internet last night,” Steve explained. “They even have instructional films on something called , YouTube.”

Peggy laughed at that. “One day into the twenty-first century and already he has found YouTube.”

They danced in silence and then took their seats. Their appetizers arrived right after they sat down again. They had just finished when an elderly lady walked over and greeted them.

“Young man, I want to tell you, it is so nice to see a member of the younger generation serving his country and spending time with his grandmother,” the lady said. She walked away before Steve or Peggy could speak.

Peggy looked at Steve. Steve looked at Peggy and then they burst out laughing. “I guess that’s what we look like to everyone else,” Peggy said. “If only I had a grandson.”

The waitress returned and cleared away their plates and refilled their wine glasses.

“Do you have any children?” Steve asked when they were alone again.

“No, I told you Howard and I divorced, right?” Peggy asked. Steve nodded. “We got married because I was pregnant . . .”

“What happened?” Steve asked, less sure that he wanted to know than he was sure that she needed to tell him.

“It all started the year after you disappeared,” Peggy said as she drained her wine. When she was finished the whole sordid story came pouring out. How she had gotten drunk on the first anniversary of that missed date and Howard found her. How she and Howard had tumbled into bed and weeks later she had discovered she was pregnant. How they had married quickly and quietly. How a couple months later, before she had told Colonel Phillips that she was pregnant, that she had been in a training accident and miscarried the baby. How that Howard got more depressed and drunk after that. How she and Howard managed to be on different missions most of the time except for formal occasions and eventually even that became intolerable and they had divorced.

Through the whole story Steve sat there, stunned. For the first time in the last two days, he began to think that maybe he’d had it pretty good being asleep for all those years. But then again, if he’d been around he might have been able to spare her all that pain. He shook his head slightly. He’d better not start thinking like that or he’d drive himself crazy.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said as he patted her hand on the table.

“Like I said yesterday, I’m not,” Peggy said forcefully.

“Did you ever see him after that?” Steve asked.

“Oh yes, once we were divorced and no longer trying to live together let alone be lovers where no romance existed, we went back to being friends,” Peggy said. “In fact we became much better friends. I was even a bridesmaid when he married Maria.”

“Oh,” Steve said. “That’s good.”

Their main courses arrived then and they fell into eating in silence. Another of the elderly matrons worked her way across the dining room and addressed Peggy.

“Peggy, darling,” greeted Mrs. Webster. “The rumors are saying this is your grandson . . .”

“Anna, you know I have no children,” Peggy answered.

“I know that. I told that tiresome Mrs. Astor that this young man couldn’t be your grandson,” Mrs. Webster said.

“Thank you,” Peggy said.

“So I told her that he must be your new boy toy. And that I would come over here and find out who he is,” Mrs. Webster continued.

Peggy sputtered in disbelief. Steve stood and introduced himself.

“I’m Captain Steven Rogers, United States Army, ma’am,” Steve said as he bowed over Mrs. Webster’s hand. That was one benefit of having been the equivalent of a chorus girl for a couple years, he’d had some diplomatic training in order to make sure people like Mrs. Webster bought bonds and lots of them.

“Like Captain America?” Mrs. Webster asked.

“I was named for him. He was a relative,” Steve said, “of sorts.”

“Oh, I see,” Mrs. Webster said. “Peggy, didn’t you mention you were friends with Captain America?”

“I was. That is why Captain Rogers, here, is having dinner with me. He never knew his famous relative and wanted to hear some stories,” Peggy explained.

“And why you danced like that?” Mrs. Webster prodded, knowing there had to be a juicy tidbit here, somewhere.

“Family legend said that the good Captain owed Miss Carter a dance when he went down,” Steve stepped in. “My family always pays its debts.”

“Oh, I see,” Mrs. Webster said, amused. That was the flimsiest story ever. The captain must certainly be Peggy Carter’s new boy toy. “It was nice meeting you, Captain Rogers. You certainly have a lot to live up to.” Mrs. Webster sailed away to spread the news to the group of old biddies she was dining with.

Dessert was served midst a tiny commotion coming from the lobby of the hotel. As they were biting into their respective chocolate cakes, the commotion entered the dining room. Tony Stark, in full evening dinner dress, paused and looked around the room and spotted them. He made a beeline for their table.

“Aunt Peggy,” Tony greeted as he took an empty chair from a nearby table and pulled it up to their table. “I called in for you with Nick and he said I’d find you and your friend here.” Tony sprawled into the chair.

“I get an urgent call to come to Times Square and you’re not there,” Tony continued. “I had to wonder why.”

“So you came to find out?” Peggy asked.

“Is that so surprising?” Tony asked.

“A little,” Peggy said.

“So you’re the great Steve Rogers,” Tony said as he swiped Peggy’s forgotten chocolate cake.

“So I am,” Steve said. “Who are you?”

“Allow me to introduce, Anthony Stark, Steve,” Peggy said recovering her manners.

“I’m also Iron Man,” Tony said as he extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet Captain America.”

Steve took his hand and shook it. “I gather, from the way you said Iron Man, that should mean something?”

“I’m a part of the Avenger Initiative,” Tony explained.

“If you two are going to get into classified information, then I suggest we go back to headquarters,” Peggy said motioning for the check.

After Tony snagged the check and paid, saying the money was coming from Stark Industries regardless who paid so why shouldn’t he do it himself, the three of them walked out into the lobby.

“Are you going to ride back with us?” Peggy asked Tony.

“No. Pepper is waiting upstairs in my suite. We have some business to take care of tonight,” Tony refused.

“Say hello to her for me, will you,” Peggy politely requested as she leaned forward and kissed Tony on the cheek.

“I will,” Tony said. He turned to Steve, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow for the meeting.” He saluted in Steve’s direction. “Nice meeting you, Captain.”

Steve’s “Nice meeting you too,” was lost as Tony walked away whistling toward the elevator.

Steve turned to Peggy, “He’s just like his father, isn’t he?”

“I’m very much afraid so,” Peggy agreed. “Maybe a little more bitter. I’m afraid Howard didn’t really change before he died.”

They walked out to the waiting car. Peggy’s driver was as efficient as he’d been on the drive over and they were back at headquarters in no time.


	3. A Unexpected Plan

The car pulled into the underground lot and stopped next to the elevator that would take Steve to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Steve got out of the car and turned to say good night only to find Peggy getting out too.

“You’re coming in?” Steve asked surprised.

“I have a meeting with Colonel Fury,” Peggy said. “He wanted to know if your appearance in public would cause too big of a stir.”

“So this wasn’t about us? It was about if my fame had died down enough for me to be out and about?” Steve asked hurt.

Peggy stepped up next to him and placed her hand on his cheek, caressing it slightly. “It was about us,” Peggy reassured him before dropping her hand and moving to hit the elevator call button, “The Colonel heard about my plan and thought he could kill two birds with one stone.”

The elevator came and Steve followed her inside. They were silent for the short ride to the ground floor. Steve turned to Peggy as they stepped out of the elevator.

“Thanks for the evening out,” Steve said. “I hope your meeting goes well. Good night.”

“I wasn’t going to leave right after my meeting,” Peggy said. “I thought we could have a night cap and talk for a while,” she suggested. “That is if you’d like.”

“I’d like that very much,” Steve said with a faint smile.

“I’m not sure how long I’ll be but I can’t imagine this will take more than an hour,” Peggy said.

“See you then,” he said as he watched her head for Colonel Fury’s office.

Steve made his way back to his quarters where he changed into what he was told were called BDUs. Whatever they were called it was more comfortable than the military version of the monkey suit he was wearing.

That thought reminded him of a drawing he had once done- himself as a dancing monkey. As soon as he was in more comfortable attire, he sat down at the desk and pulled out the paper and pencil he had requisitioned that afternoon. He started on a drawing. If he finished it by the time Peggy got there he might give it to her.

An hour and a half after they had parted at the elevator, there was a knock on Steve’s door.

“Come in,” he called.

“I hope nine o’clock isn’t too late to come calling,” Peggy said as she peaked her head around the door.

“It’s not too late,” Steve said as he stood. “Not too late at all.”

Peggy came in and walked right over to the side of his desk. “What are you working on?”

“Nothing,” Steve said turning the paper upside down. “Just a silly drawing.”

“Let me see,” Peggy asked. “As I recall, you are rather good at drawing.”

“All right,” he said turning it back over. There in pencil was the dancing monkey, with a shield on its back dancing with the younger Peggy, the one Steve remembered.

Peggy traced a finger over her face in the drawing. She looked up at Steve. “Is that how you see me?”

“Yes,” Steve answered without hesitation. “To me you’ll always be the agent, I mean woman, who befriended a ninety pound, scared asthmatic on the way to the most important day of his life.”

Peggy was silent, remembering the pre-serum Steve. He was so sweet, brave and lost that she couldn’t help herself from befriending him. Truth be told, she had fallen a little in love with him before he became the Captain. She had started falling for him the moment he dove on a grenade with no thought for himself just to save those around him. His actions through the rest of the testing and right after the treatment only confirmed her feelings. Now sixty-odd, almost seventy years later, she realized that she had never really fallen out of love with him. True, they never had a chance to go beyond just the beginning stirrings of the feeling, but looking at the drawing Steve had just done she thought maybe they’d get the chance to find out if there could be something deeper. If he still saw her as the beautiful and capable military woman she still felt like she was, then there just might be that chance.

“I haven’t looked like that in years,” Peggy said trying to hide the swell of hope she felt.

“When your niece told me you had celebrated your ninetieth birthday I expected you to look . . . ,”Steve started before he realized where that thought was going.

“You still don’t know how to talk to women, do you?” Peggy said. She sank down to sit in the wingback chair before his desk. “But you’re right. I don’t look my age. There is a reason for that.”

“Oh,” Steve said as he sat on his chair behind the desk, since that was the only other place to sit.

“About five years after Howard and I divorced, I was promoted, to the head of the SSR,” Peggy said. “You remember giving blood right after you brought down that Hydra Agent that infiltrated your procedure, right?”

“Yeah, I remember,” Steve said remembering losing Dr. Erskine. “You told me that if the serum could work only once that Dr. Erskine would be proud it was me.”

“That’s right,” Peggy confirmed. “Well the SSR scientists worked on trying to replicate the formula from your blood for years. Finally, after sixteen years, they thought they had it.”

“And you tried it on yourself?” Steve asked, knowing that was precisely what she’d done.

“I knew what it could do. I knew how painful it would be. I was the only one involved who had been there that day. I couldn’t let anyone else try it until I had made sure it was safe and did all we hoped it could do. So, yes, as director, I took my prerogative and tried it on myself,” Peggy explained. “Howard tried to stop me but as he wasn’t my superior or my husband at that time he had no power.”

“Did it give you more muscles when you used the vita-ray?” Steve asked, wondering if he could look forward to losing his strength as he got older.

“Vita- ray?” Peggy asked. “No, we didn’t use the vita-ray. That must be what went wrong.”

“I wouldn’t call slowing the aging process to be going wrong, precisely,” Steve interjected.

“Neither would I,” Peggy said. “But we were looking to create another you- a super soldier.”

“Right,” Steve said lost in thought. “I wonder what would happen if you used the Vita-ray now?”

“I’m not sure,” Peggy said. “You think it would do any good?”

“I don’t know but I do know that the formula bonds to your cells so it must still be in them,” Steve suggested.

“Then they could still be activated,” Peggy perked up at the thought. All these years she thought her biggest experiment with the division had been her biggest failure but if they could turn it around then she might not just be the footnote in the division’s history about being the first woman director.

“Last night, when I couldn’t sleep,” Steve began.

“And you weren’t learning how to dance,” Peggy teased.

“Right, when I wasn’t doing that,” Steve said with a blush. “I looked around out there,” he pointed to the rest of the World War II vintage area. “And I found the stuff from the Brooklyn lab that survived the bombing.”

“The Vita- ray machine?” Peggy asked.

“It’s out there. Intact,” Steve confirmed. “But it needs a power source. A big one.”

“I think I know someone who might be able to help,” Peggy said.

“How?” he asked.

“I know someone with a power source that might be powerful enough yet small enough to get in here without raising anyone’s suspicions,” Peggy said.

“We’d do this behind Colonel Fury’s back?” Steve asked, unsure if he could support that kind of deception.

“No, I’d get Colonel Fury on board but only the four of us really need to know about this,” she explained.

“Four of us?” Steve asked. “You, Colonel Fury, me and who else?”

“My friend with the power source. I won’t say who until he agrees,” Peggy explained. She went over to the phone on Steve’s desk, lifted the handset and pressed the number one.

“Colonel Fury’s office,” the perky voice of Agent Carter, the younger, said on the other end of the intercom line.

“Sharon, is he still in?” Peggy asked her niece.

“Yes he is, Aunt Peg,” Sharon replied. “Did you forget something when you were here a few minutes ago?”

“No. Captain Rogers and I have need of an immediate appointment, if you can swing it before the director goes home,” Peggy answered. “We have something that needs to be run by him.”

“How about I just come by the good Captain’s quarters right now, then,” Colonel Fury said cutting into the conversation.

“That might be better, sir,” Peggy said.

“I’ll be right down then,” Colonel Fury said before the intercom line went dead.

“I thought you retired as the Director so why do you call him, sir?” Steve asked, wondering if Peggy was intimidated by the Director who had taken her place.

“I don’t have to call Nick that but it reminds him that I’m more than an useless old lady,” Peggy smirked.

“Not that I need much reminding that she ran this place, quite capably for twenty- five years,” Colonel Fury said as he entered the room without bothering to knock.

Steve immediately stood at attention. He hadn’t been in the habit of saluting or even being at attention for Colonel Philips, but then again that Colonel hadn’t really expected Steve to be a soldier at first and then later hadn’t cared if Steve had followed the nicer points of military discipline as long as the job got done. This Colonel intimidated Steve enough to follow military protocol until he got to know him better.

“At ease, son,” Colonel Fury said. “Those formalities aren’t needed here.” The colonel turned back to Peggy. “What was it you needed from me?”

Peggy quickly outlined the plan and Colonel Fury agreed to it, if they could get a power source without costing the division money from the budget.

“I think I can manage that,” Peggy said with a smirk as she walked out into the corridor to make a call on her cell phone.

“That is one courageous lady,” Colonel Fury said as the door closed behind Peggy.

“Always was,” Steve agreed. The Colonel smiled and left the room. Steve was left to wonder just what the effects of the Vita- rays might do to Peggy.


	4. An Experiment Continude

The next morning, Steve was interrupted from his internet research by a knock on the door. It opened before he could say anything and in came Tony Stark. Today the man wore a t-shirt and jeans, but there was an odd glow from his chest. Steve wanted to ask about it but was sure this might be what had put the younger man on the Avenger Initiative.

“Have you heard of Aunt Peggy’s wild scheme?” Tony said as he plopped down into the free chair.

“The Vita- ray thing?” Steve asked. “You’re the man with the power source?”

“I see you’ve heard of it. I might have known,” Tony said. “Do you think it a good idea?”

“I’m not sure,” Steve said honestly. “I remember the treatment as if it were yesterday and I wouldn’t wish that pain on my worst enemy let alone my . . . well anyone I care for.”

“Have you told her that?” Tony asked.

“I shouldn’t have to. She was there and because of my screams. . .,” Tony raised his eyebrows and Steve dismissed the question. “What…I was a ninety pound asthmatic. I was allowed to scream from the pain. Anyway, she almost called a halt to the process there but I said I could do it. And I did. What right do I have to keep her from this?”

“You could try as her friend,” Tony suggested.

“Your father tried to keep her from injecting the serum. What makes you think I could succeed where he didn’t?” Steve asked.

“We both know she never loved my father like she does you,” Tony admitted.

“She told me that the only people who could have stopped her then were her superior officer or her husband and since Howard, at the time, was neither he couldn’t,” Steve said. “At this moment, I am neither so I doubt she’ll listen to me either.”

“Again I say she has feelings for you that she never had for my father. She’ll listen to you,” Tony said.

“It is her choice, I need to respect that,” Steve said stubbornly. “She taught me that if you believe in your friends, you respect their decisions. She respected mine to land that stupid plane in the ocean and save the world. Now I can respect hers to try to fully activate the formula.”

“I’m beginning to see why Dad could never compete with your memory,” Tony said. “Peggy used to take me out to fondue a couple times a year. I’m not sure why but I suspect that until she had to raise Sharon, I was as close to a child of her own that she’d had and she wanted someone to remember the War and you, and Bucky, and Dr. Erskine. Anyway, one day Dad was waiting for me when I got home. I was about fifteen and in my first year at M.I.T. and I guess he thought I was old enough to hear about it. Dad told me about his first marriage to Peggy.”

“Did you know before that?” Steve asked. “That she was his ex-wife?”

“I knew, but hadn’t cared about why they divorced. I always assumed that it was Dad’s drinking and unrealistic expectations. I’d had enough experience with that,” Tony replied. “On that particular day, Dad told me that he had agreed to the divorce because there should only be two people in a marriage and in his there were three. Your ghost was always there between them, he had said.”

Steve was stunned. He had come between Howard and Peggy and Peggy hadn’t told him. Maybe she hadn’t known how Howard felt. Maybe she had genuinely tried to make the marriage work. She had admitted that her feelings hadn’t quite been what they ought.

“Dad didn’t really resent her, except when he was drunk. They were good friends when he wasn’t drinking. I grew up with her around acting like a fond aunt,” Tony finished his explanation. “I am rather fond of her and would hate to be the cause of her death.”

“Can’t you just not supply the power?” Steve suggested.

“She’d find a way around me,” Tony said. “Most likely by asking Pepper for a small arc reactor. I have a couple at home in Los Angeles. If Peggy asked, Pepper would fly one out here for her. Pepper has always liked Aunt Peggy.”

“Oh,” said Steve. “I guess we only have one choice and that is to be there to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

“I guess that’s it then,” Tony said. He stood and went to the door. “You going to show me this machine and tell me about it?”

“Sure,” Steve said as he led the way out the door and down a corridor to the old headquarters. He went past the small infirmary to another room where the controls and pod of the Vita-ray were.

“I really don’t know much about it except that the test subject climbs in here.” Steve demonstrated. “And it closes around them and a bright light streams out of it for a couple minutes and then it opens on the newly reborn subject.” Steve climbed out and went to look at the controls where he remembered Howard Stark working.

“That’s a start,” Tony said, looking around. He found a box full of schematics and manuals under part of the counter. He lifted it out and started rifling through its contents. “I think I have everything I need to get to work.”

“How soon will it be ready?” Colonel Fury said, coming up behind Steve.

“I should have it ready in a week if everything is in working order,” Tony said. “Longer if I need to fix more than some basic cables or something.”

“And the arc reactor?” Fury asked.

“I sent Pepper to get one of my spares this morning,” Tony said.

“Good. I want to see this project of Ms. Carter’s done as soon as possible,” Fury replied. “Captain, I want you to brief her on the likely effects. She’s waiting for you upstairs”

“Yes, sir,” Steve saluted before he took off to find Peggy.

Exactly a week later, they were gathered in the old headquarters. Steve helped a loosely-gowned Peggy into the chamber and strapped her in. He placed the paddle arms over her clavicles like he remembered them being placed on him. He gave her a smile to try to reassure her.

“This is my choice,” Peggy said.

“I know,” Steve replied. “That’s the only reason I haven’t tried to stop you.”

“Thank you, for that,” she smiled.

Colonel Fury motioned to Tony and the pod closed around Peggy. Steve stepped back and joined the Colonel in watching. Tony pushed the buttons in sequence and the light shot out like Steve remembered it doing. There were some small grunts of pain coming from Peggy but not enough to stop the procedure.

A few minutes later, the machine stalled at seventy percent before resuming the climb to one hundred percent. After reaching full capacity and sustaining it for a full minute Tony powered down the machine. The pod opened and Peggy climbed out.

“Well that was rather anti-climatic,” Tony said as he watched Steve over to help Peggy out. “Other than stalling . . .”

“At seventy percent, right?” Peggy asked as she nearly tumbled to the floor but Steve caught her.

“How did you know?” Steve asked as he slipped an arm around her now-trimmer waist. If he wasn’t mistaken, she did indeed have a few more muscles. And was her hair now more brown than grey? He could swear she looked maybe twenty years younger than she had, somewhere in her early forties at most.

“It happened at your procedure too,” Peggy replied, taking a deep breath. “Did you feel like this, Steve?”

“Like what?” he asked, unsure just what she was referring to.

“Like you’re twenty again and could do anything and be anything. Like you want to run until you fly?” Peggy explained.

“I don’t remember. I don’t think I had much time to think about how I felt, what with you fondling me and the German blowing up the lab,” Steve answered. “Though I do remember feeling like I could fly and outrun cars when I was chasing him.”

“Aunt Peggy, you fondled Captain America?” Tony teased from where he stood watching the interaction.

“Almost,” Peggy admitted. “And he wasn’t Captain America then.”

“But I was when you kissed me,” Steve teased.

“This is so going on my blog,” Tony said.

“Nothing is going on anyone’s blog,” Colonel Fury said, chiming in for the first time. “So Miss Carter, are you up for some tests?”

“Absolutely,” Peggy said. “I want to know if this could be done to repeat what happened with Steve.”

“You mean you still want to make super soldiers even after what happened with Dr. Banner and Captain Rogers, not to mention the others?” Tony asked

“I know there have been problems, Tony,” Peggy answered. “But I knew Abraham Erskine and feel I owe it to his memory to see if there isn’t something from his research we can salvage to help our soldiers survive combat better.”

“Looking at you, Miss Carter,” Colonel Fury said. “I would say we might have some sort of de-aging compound.”

“I don’t think it works like that,” Peggy said. “Why would it stop at forty instead of going all the way back to my twenties if that were the case?”

The men thought for a moment on that question.

“How old were you when you took the formula?” Tony asked.

“Just shy of my forty-second birthday,” Peggy admitted. “Now that I think about it, I looked remarkably like this then. Just a few strands of grey in my hair and the muscles I had from the Army training were getting harder to keep and I was getting flabbier.”

“If you looked then like you do now,” Steve started to say.

“Captain Rogers, I’d be careful how I’d end that thought,” Tony advised.

“What?” Steve asked. “I was just going to say then she looked beautiful.”

“I think that’s my cue to get Miss Carter to the waiting doctors,” Colonel Fury stepped in and directed Peggy to the infirmary.


End file.
